Reflections
by HermyLuna2
Summary: A songfic loosely based on 'Iris' from the Goo Goo Dolls. Don't worry, no in-text songlyrics. Rated M for future chapters.


Disclaimer: All the characters, except for the OC's, belong to the enchantingly creative and incredibly talented JK Rowling.

'You should not attempt to fight hatred with vengeance. The past cannot be changed. Use your energy for spreading the positive instead' his mother had said. Didn't she understand that not fighting against the Dark Arts meant silently approving of them? It was ignorant. Cowardly. His father had not spoken about the matter, but dad shared his opinion, no doubt about it. He came from a family of bloody Gryffindors, darn it!  
He was glad he had been able to persuade his parents not to come along with him to station 9 ¾; after all he was fifteen, way too old for that. They had, however, handed him a few extra galleons before he left, and he was grateful for that.  
They knew they did not need to do it but they did it anyway. They wanted him to be as happy at Hogwarts as possible, wanted him to be able to take a few extra drinks with his friends in Hogsmeade. He forgave his mother for her rather close-mindedness because both of his parents were the best he had ever been able to wish for. If it had not been the reality of his life, he would have dismissed them as being way more perfect and ideal and syrupy-sweet than necessary. What had he done to deserve them? Apparently being born had been enough, and he was fine with that. Perfectly fine.  
The teenage wizard made his way through the Hogwarts Express, well aware of his dull spotty face and hair the color of the wood on the train benches that did not raise the slightest suspicion as he sat down, all alone, on the bench opposed to two giggling teenage witches, who did not cut off their conversation as he pretended to read the Daily Prophet.

The fifteen year old boy with the wavy black hair, sun-touched skin and striking grey eyes did not look his age. Positive factors contributing to this fact were his high cheekbones, defined jaw and lean yet strong build, while his gaze also held something too wise for his years. In the star-system of his family, the constellation Sirius Orion Black was disturbing the grand design.  
He got a cold feeling in his stomach when he thought about it. He was on his way to Hogwarts now - relaxing, peaceful, friendly Hogwarts. He really shouldn't be thinking about how 'Mother' seemed to hate him with the same passion as which she adored Regulus and 'Father' found him to be a disgrace, not worth mentioning to his colleagues from the Ministry when they had come over for dinner. 'Mother' had locked him up in his room while Sirius had heard her loud voice breaking with affection and pride as she had introduced 'the future of the noble house of Black, my dearest, beloved, most precious, irreplaceable joy of my life...'.  
_Regulus_. That bastard had to be somewhere in the train as well, kissing the ass of his fellow Slytherins. He hoped not to stumble on him.  
Sirius looked at his image in the mirror and forced his mouth into a wry grin. Here was the only inheritance he was grateful of: when he was feeling absolutely shite, it didn't show, it rather gave some dark and mysterious edge to the model-like looks the Ancient Bloodline of Black was known for. He now looked a bit like a Muggle-movie assassin or a Muggle rockstar.  
'Hogwarts beware - Black Is Back' he said and couldn't help but chuckle. He must remember to make it his trademark phrase before Bellatrix stole it in all earnest.

Lyall Lupin and Hope Howell had waved at Remus John Lupin as the Hogwarts Express took off. Hope had been teary-eyed, waving with her handkerchief, and Lyall had wrapped his arm around her. This would have been a rather sad image if not for the fact that mums tears were a mixture of sadness and joy; the fact that he, Remus, was able to go to Hogwarts was one of the best things that had ever happened to her in her life. Especially after The Letter, that said her son was elected a Prefect for Gryffindor.  
Remus examinated the moonstone his mother had bought for him as a present after hearing the news. According to Muggle belief about gemstones, it helped with 'fulfilling ones wishes'. Still being able to attend Hogwarts was a fulfilled wish in itself, maybe this stone would help him with surviving the monthly nightmare that was the Shrieking Shack.  
He closely inspected himself in the mirror. To his surprise, the prospect of another schoolyear, and the honour of being chosen as a Prefect by the Head of Gryffindor professor McGonagall, had brought back the life in his face. The hair he kept parted at ear length looked no long dull and mousy but a decent light chestnut brown. His eyebrows looked a bit less unruly, his green eyes earnest but sparkling. There were for a change no bags or lines underneath them. His robes fell gracefully around him, not shabbily. It seemed like the dark part of him did not exist, although it was merely on vacation. But he had it under control. He was a civilized student, and that monthly furry little problem of his called Moony…ah well, that was a side-issue.

'Peter! PETER! You forgot your sandwiches – again!'  
The young black wizard with the purple streak in one of his dreadlocks looked amused at the chubby young wizard in front of him with the unruly shoulderlength mousy-brown hair and the pointy nose.  
'Is that your mother, Peter?' he asked with a raised eyebrow, nodding his head into the direction of the train window, behind which a desperately screaming witch in neon green robes was running along with the train.  
'No' Peter Pettigrew said unyieldingly, looking into the other direction until his mother had given up.  
Anthony Jordan started to laugh. 'You should really stand up against her some more, mate! She seems to think you're six!'  
Peter was annoyed. What did that Jordan guy know about his mother, anyway? 'I do. It's just no use' he said in an icy voice.  
Fortunately, this made Jordan shut up. Peter sighed. Deep down, he had to admit, Jordan actually had a point… He _was _quite submissive… Then again, he hated conflicts – who liked conflicts? Only fools… But still, Jordan was kind of r…  
Angrily, he started polishing his wand with his sleeve – blue stars were coming out of it. As the train passed the familiar lakes and hills, twinkling with dew, he started to relax. He was looking forward to a new year on Hogwarts. He gave Jordan a little apologizing smile and wondered where his friends were until he saw Moony entering their train part, walking towards him over the corridor. 'Remus!' he yelled happily. But where the hell were Padfoot and Prongs?

He wanted to forget the summer. Completely remove it from his memories. He prayed this year on Hogwarts would be better than the previous one.  
Eileen had escorted him to the station, like she always did. She had brushed her sleek brown hair and put some powder on the almost grey looking cheeks of her long face, even though Tobias always mocked her for it, saying that it did not make much difference anyway.  
He had expected Eileen to be silent the whole time, but she had suddenly said: 'Do not get yourself in trouble'.  
'Like you, you mean?' He had replied, angrily. 'You were expelled!'  
'That was different!' she had retorted. 'It was not my fault. It was the fault of some bloody Gryffindor boy that spoke an Unforgivable Curse at Morgelyna Burke and blamed me…He switched the histories of our wands... I still don't know how he did that… never found of what kind of spell he used… But Armando Dippet just believed that Gryffindor scum. Gobnet Forlorn was his name…So, now you know.' Eileen had started to tremble slightly.  
'What – what happened after you left Hogwarts? And what happened to Gobnet?' he had asked, never expected ever feeling sorry for her.  
'You know the rest. The Wizengamot too decided I was guilty, so I had two choices: going to Azkaban with the Dementors, or turning in my magic and live the rest of my life as a Muggle. I choosed the latter, obviously. The Daily Prophet never reported the scandal. And Gobnet died, fortunately – Abigail found the announcement in the Daily Prophet - that was a real relief.'  
'That was awful.' he had said. 'I hope his death was slow, and painful..'  
'I hope that, too' Eileen had answered, and the beginning of what had seemed to be a smirk had appeared on her face, but she had quickly corrected herself. 'I mean, it is enough that he is dead. What's done is done, after all'  
'Did that Forlorn bloke have any family?' he had asked.  
'Why do you want to know?' Eileen had replied, suspiciously.  
'Just curious' he had lied, planning to curse Gobnet Forlorns family members to hell and back.  
'I know you, Severus Snape. You are never _just _curious. But I can tell you, I suppose, because he only had one nephew, Ewin, and Ewin is…permanently Confunded, if you get what I mean'  
No, Severus had not known what she meant, but it did not matter. He was going to find Ewin, now that he knew who was responsible for the lack of joy in his life.  
As the Hogwarts Express was about to leave, Eileen had said sullenly without moving or blinking: 'Well… until Christmas.'  
'Until Christmas' Severus had replied. When he had stepped on the train, she had hastily added: 'And… do not as I did. Make connections. They can be handy'  
Maybe, just maybe, that would have had more chance for succeeding if you hadn't insisted on frolicking with an antisocial Muggle recluse, he had thought, but he had answered:  
'I already have connections, mother.' and had violently dragged his suitcase into the train, where it had landed with a harsh thump.

Petunia had not accompanied her parents this time, when they had waved her goodbye.  
It stung. Lily knew Petunia's jealousy was still there, even though she carefully hid it behind insults and feigned indifference. And she could completely understand Petunia's frustration. Why did she have to be the only witch child in their family?  
She had witnessed the obsessive compulsively rigid Petunia engaging in kind of reckless behaviour: drinking not one but two glasses of wine at parties and going to the local pub. One particularly sunny day, Lily had persuaded her to go swimming with her in the lake. At first, she had thought that her sister's disgruntled behaviour had been typical teen behaviour of not wanting to do anything. When they had lied on their bath towels on the grass, however, Lily had closed her eyes and sighed what a wonderful park Cokeworth had but Petunia's reply had shocked her.  
'I hope to get a reasonably paid job in one or two years, and then I'm out of here. I am _sick_ of living at home'  
It had shocked Lily, especially when she realized that she was probably the reason why. Mum and dad were very interested in everything that had to do with magic. When Petunia came home with a good school raport but their parents had been more interested in Lily's story about magical careers, Petunia had stamped upstairs and stayed in her room for three days. Lily planned to confront her parents with this in the Christmas holidays. But now she was going to enjoy the new schoolyear. She put her suitcase on the rack above her and put the cage with her owl Uric in it on the ground. As she relaxed and enjoyed the sun shining in her face, she heard a high-pitched voice calling her name. She looked up and saw a familiar dark-haired witch with slanting hazel eyes, freckles and a mouth covered in pink lipstick walking towards her.  
It was Marlene McKinnon, a fellow Gryffindor girl and one of Lily's best friends. The girls hugged each other, and after Marlene had given Uric a piece of bread he did not like, she immediately started talking.  
On the benches opposed to them a sole brown-haired, spotty-faced boy sat down, reading the Daily Prophet.. no, hiding behind an upside-down Daily Prophet. Lily frowned, but said nothing. She had the feeling, somehow, that she had seen the boy before, even though his face showed no resemblance to any of her acquitances.


End file.
